The state Office of Healthcare Strategy denied a bid to expand cardiac services at Manchester Memorial Hospital, finding that such care is available in nearby hospitals and that “financial gain, prestige and market share ... are inappropriate considerations."

The hospital will appeal the decision, a spokeswoman said Monday.

Advertisement

Manchester Memorial and St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center applied last year to establish a diagnostic catheterization lab and angioplasty service, without on-site surgical backup, at the 238-bed Manchester hospital, according to the state agency.

“The intention of this application speaks to (the hospitals’) commitment to cardiac patients,” hearing officer and OHS attorney Micheala Mitchell said. “However, the program they seek to establish does not improve access to cardiac care for residents in the service area, nor does it advance the current quality of patient care.”

“We believe residents east of the river deserve to have the same access to these vital, life-saving services as other area residents,” Kruse said.

“By providing the proposed cardiac services at our local hospital," she said, "people living in eastern Connecticut who need cardiac interventions will be able to receive medical care more quickly and at a lower cost, allowing EMS providers to return to their town sooner and helping to minimize travel and wait times for all patients.

“We plan to appeal the decision and will ask OHS to reconsider our application so that we can provide cardiac care for our community.”

The need for emergency angioplasty, however, declined by 6 percent in the area from 2015-18 and there are two hospitals (Hartford Hospital and St. Francis) within 10 miles of Manchester Memorial with emergency cardiac programs, Mitchell said.

“Establishing a third program in this service area only shifts volume, it doesn’t improve access,” she said.

Certificate of need applications must meet statutory criteria, including demonstrating a clear public need for the service and how the proposal will improve quality, accessibility and cost-effectiveness of health care delivery in the region.

“It is only appropriate to consider the initiation of a percutaneous cardiac intervention (PCI) program without on-site cardiac surgical backup if the program will clearly fill a void in the healthcare needs of the community,” a state news release said. “Institutional financial gain, prestige, market share, or other similar motives are inappropriate considerations for the initiation of a PCI program without on-site surgical backup.”

Eastern Connecticut Health Network, which also includes Rockville General Hospital, was sold in 2016 to for-profit Prospect Medical Holdings. Three years into the Los Angeles-based company’s ownership, Manchester Memorial received only one star in the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid’s national hospital rating system for 2019.

Available at Medicare.gov/hospitalcompare, the ratings are based on dozens of performance measures, including mortality, safety, patient readmission rates, effective and timeliness of care and patient experience.

Rockville General was assigned two stars. Nationally, 6 percent of hospitals are at the one-star level. The most common rating is three stars, at nearly 28 percent.